There are some good deals in the AH if you have the patience to sort through 5-15 pages of results. It's worth the time. There are a lot of high priced items, but there are a decent amount of rare items that sell in the 2000-5000 range...you just have to be quick. If you see a rare at that price with the stats you're looking for, get it! Those items will literally sell right before your eyes as you read the stats. I have my Barb and WD decked out in some nice rare items from the AH that have really made a difference in their damage output and survivability. The items I bought were in the 2000-4000 gold range.

If I want to move rare items quickly on the AH (levels 10-40) I've found the 3000-6000 gold range to be the best right now, especially if I want to clear out my stash. Because the AH locks out how many I can sell at 10, pricing right is important to keep those items moving. I've had all 10 of my slots locked up for the entire duration because I priced to high...which is frustrating.

Thought I'd share some brief impressions of Nightmare once you move into the more crowded areas and dungeons, particularly in encounters with named bosses and their weirdo linked-beams and crazy neon indestructible spindle-beam-killers. This is what my Demon Hunter does...

Ahem. The frustrating thing is, I have no idea whatsoever what's good enough for Nightmare in terms of damage, armor, resistances (I've gotten that up to about 18-22 now for all). I mean, the stuff I'm wearing/shooting seems like it oughta be good enough but in most areas the named bosses just wipe me out now. So clearly, I'm not up to snuff.

Even in a decent 4-player Nightmare group last night, we spent a lot of time dying and retreating. I like the challenge I guess, but after a while it's like the instructions on a shampoo bottle: "Fight. Die. Resurrect. Repeat."

Well, I was enjoying Nightmare mode until Act 2, when suddenly it got stupid hard for me. Gotta figure out a good skill combo or something, but later, because I am too angry right now. Dying over and over isn't much fun.

Upgrade your gear. Made a HUGE difference for me.

The problem is I am getting shitty drops that I can't use. Can you tell me what you focused on for gear? I am playing a DH and seem to always get barbarian and witch doctor loot.

When you search the auction house, +dex and +vit are big, but if you can get gems, emeralds give +dex on armor and rubies give +exp on helms and +damage on weapons. I would try to find some high quality gems, square or better, to go with some socketed gear. Also, +dam items boost damage much more than your primary stat will. For example, I have an amulet that gives +4 - 8 damage and it boosts my damage much more than +60 to int (for my witch doctor). The only drawback is that you lose some secondary benefits from your stats, like more dodge from dex.

Remember, gear is a huge part of the game and if you aren't keeping up with your gear, you will die. A lot.

Edit: Also, as you get into higher difficulties, you want to limit the number of monsters you pull. You won't be able to aoe down monsters like you did so easily on normal. Snaring and rooting will help a lot.

I'm sure Blizzard would say loot is the whole point of the game, so why would they reduce the loot. It's just sometimes I feel more like a garbage pickup worker cleaning up the side of a road of broken beer bottles, cigarette butts and moldy banana peels, desperately hoping to find something valuable, rather than an adventurer.

Pro Tip: Hold down CTRL and mouse-over the loot. It will pop up the item description page.

« Last Edit: May 23, 2012, 04:08:39 PM by Purge »

Logged

"If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners." - Johnny Carson

Thought I'd share some brief impressions of Nightmare once you move into the more crowded areas and dungeons, particularly in encounters with named bosses and their weirdo linked-beams and crazy neon indestructible spindle-beam-killers. This is what my Demon Hunter does...

Ahem. The frustrating thing is, I have no idea whatsoever what's good enough for Nightmare in terms of damage, armor, resistances (I've gotten that up to about 18-22 now for all). I mean, the stuff I'm wearing/shooting seems like it oughta be good enough but in most areas the named bosses just wipe me out now. So clearly, I'm not up to snuff.

Even in a decent 4-player Nightmare group last night, we spent a lot of time dying and retreating. I like the challenge I guess, but after a while it's like the instructions on a shampoo bottle: "Fight. Die. Resurrect. Repeat."

Let me put it this way - my lvl 44 DH has 12K+ HP. That enables me to do an OK job. I was over 1K DPS at one point, but when I started concentrating on health, it dropped down to around 800. That seems to be good enough damage, especially for trash.

I'm sure Blizzard would say loot is the whole point of the game, so why would they reduce the loot. It's just sometimes I feel more like a garbage pickup worker cleaning up the side of a road of broken beer bottles, cigarette butts and moldy banana peels, desperately hoping to find something valuable, rather than an adventurer.

Pro Tip: Hold down CTRL and mouse-over the loot. It will pop up the item description page.

Thanks, though my main point was just I felt there was too much garbage loot in the game overall, and that I was -- even using your helpful tip, which I'll scribble down for reference -- simply combing through the crap for an all too infrequent bauble, so to speak.

I've certainly seen a bit more loot worth hanging onto in Nightmare so far. So perhaps I'll be able to retire my garbage man metaphor soon.===========I'm sure by L44 I'll be an omnipotent DH world destroyer. At 35, not so much. I had been adjusting my attributes modifiers to get more resistances but maybe I should just go back to crazy amounts of Dexterity with the idea of offing things before they can off me -- rather than thinking I can survive named boss' attacks in Nightmare.

Once you start nightmare difficulty, you need to refrain from the playstyle of just running around and fighting as stuff appears. You want to be a bit more careful and stop moving when you see mobs on the edge of your screen, then pull rather than just running into the pack. This will prevent getting into trouble with multiple packs of elites/trash/whatever coming over to say hi in the middle of your fight.

PARIS, France -- May 23, 2012 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that as of the first 24 hours of Diablo® III’s release, more than 3.5 million copies had been sold, setting the new all-time record for fastest-selling PC game.* That number does not include the more than 1.2 million players who received Diablo III as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft® Annual Pass promotion. Altogether, more than 4.7 million gamers around the world were poised to storm Sanctuary on day 1 of Diablo III’s release -- representing the biggest PC-game launch in history.

As of the first week of the game’s availability, that number had already grown to more than 6.3 million.* The above figures also do not include players in Korean Internet game rooms, where Diablo III has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39% as of May 22.†

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”

“Regarding today’s announcement, we recognize that setting a new launch record is a big achievement,” Morhaime continued. “However, we’re especially proud of the gameplay feedback we’ve received from players worldwide. We’re pleased that Diablo III has lived up to players’ high expectations, and we’re looking forward to welcoming more players into Sanctuary in the days ahead.”

Most of us love the game, but much of the feedback at official forums seems to be "fix the damn servers!" "My account got hacked, WTF your customer service is a joke!" "WTF is up with the items/skills/runes/classes, etc.????" Or it's people exploiting varous "holes" in skills and runes and bragging about it until Blizz steps in to talk about hotfixing it (which nobody is much happy about it).

"Proud of the gameplay feedback" indeed.

As far as whether it portends some sort of PC games revival, or some rush away from "FPS everything" to isometric games, I'm skeptical. I want Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn to succeed, and I plan to buy them. But I don't know if the industry doing like it did back after the first two Diablo games -- pushing out a bunch of mostly forgetful Diablo clones, few of which did any noticeable sales, mostly from long-since out of business developers, would be a positive thing.

I still think it's mostly The Blizzard Effect, that as one of the few "PC-only" game developers left, all their releases are big events, and it seems like they can get people excited in genres that have largely vacated the tops of the sales charts (SC2 with RTSs in 2010, D3 with hack'n'slashes now). More power to them.

I think D3 has the potential to spoil you in normal, if you let it. I've been able to get through most everything in normal without having to rely too much on using self healing rune upgrades. As I've been getting closer to finishing normal, I've been forcing myself to practice using them for both my WD and Barbarian...because I know they will be useful (needed?) in nightmare. They're not always attached to the coolest looking skills though.

For example, a 30ish Barbarian will have Rend (Blood Lust), Revenge (Vengeance is Mine), and Frenzy (Triumph) that can work together in small %s to help keep health going the right way. At level 24 they get access to the passive rune Bloodthirst (gain 3% of all damage as life). This self healing build reminds me of my Dark Templar from Age of Conan. Seemingly small lifetaps and health regen by themselves, but working together they can add up. That said, I think the Barbarian is a constant balance of killing faster versus the benefits of self healing. Cleave kills most things faster, so I take less damage. Frenzy requires a short warm up, but will heal me after every kill. Which one do I use? I like having that option on the fly, as the situation demands.

The Witch Doctor has some great self heals that I'm hoping will be helpful in Nightmare and beyond. On Normal I can cast Haunt (Consuming Spirit) on a champion or elite, and just run around while I'm being healed...while doing damage over time. Most of the time I just stand in one spot, cast haunt, watch it bounce around baddies as they're slain, and benefit from the constant health regen. Meanwhile I'm dumping acid on their heads and shooting darts at them.

More healing for the WD: Firebats can be runed to Vampire Bats that has a small lifetap. I like running around with Zombie Dogs (Final Gift), turning them into health dispensers when they die. Hex (Hedge Magic) is another good healing option for my level. Soul harvest (Siphon) is a really good self heal if there are clusters of bad guys nearby. I'm not there yet, but on paper Sacrifice (For the Master) looks good. There are a couple of higher level healing options too (Ghost Trance and Healing Journey).

I feel a lot safer playing my WD than I do a Barbarian. I think Barb would be challenging in/after Nightmare.

Blizzard obviously can design their game any way they wish, however saying that it's necessary to remove the ability for players to assign attribute points for their own good (i.e. broken character builds) is pretty lame and border-line insulting. Essentially this person is saying as a gamer I am too stupid or inept to figure out the "correct" way to build my character.

THIS. Many of the design decisions seem a little insulting, frankly.

But that's just one part of the equation... I hate repeating myself, but I think many of you are still missing a key point: the rune system they advertised prior to the final version gave you BOTH the ability to experiment with every single skill and skill variant, as well as the ability to specialize. Essentially what we have now is a single fixed (some might say dumbed down) permutation of what was originally player dependent; runeskills at fixed power levels given out in the order Blizzard decided they wanted to give them out.

One more time for posterity: in that older system, you'd unlock all base skills by level 30. Around level 10-12ish, runes would start to drop. There were 5 different rune types (that when slotted would have the same effect as today's runeskill selection), and 5 levels of power per rune with increasing rarity. In this system, by level 30, you would have access to at least the basic version (and probably close to the power level we have now) of every single runeskill. Presumably the lvl 1 version of each rune would be fairly common, or common enough you could experiment fairly readily. Controlling the rarity of the runes (and maybe what level they could be used at) would be the control in place to not have it so everyone could slot every skill with max power.

Someone asked how I would structure it - it would be to make level 5 runes the absolute rarest of drops, but perhaps give players a single one for each difficulty completion. So that by full endgame absolutely for certain you could have 3 skills at max power. On average, most people would run in NM mode, builds with 1 lvl 5 rune, maybe a couple of 4s and the remainder 3s. The specialization aspect would be based around the skills you decided to slot with your best runes. Slotting your absolute favorite skill with your only lvl 5 rune would be a meaningful decision/commitment based around your build philosophy (the equivalent of putting 20+ skill points into a single skill). Players who don't like such a commitment-based system could continue slotting and re-slotting with lower powered runes (having level 3 power be relatively common, or buyable on AH) - making the system have the capability of being almost identical to ho today's system works.

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

In the new system your character is defined by loot (that's the only difference between Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2). So you are pretty much required to find or AH loot to progress deeper into the game. Not sure how that is any different. If you're fine with random loot, what is the difference?

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

In the new system your character is defined by loot (that's the only difference between Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2). So you are pretty much required to find or AH loot to progress deeper into the game. Not sure how that is any different. If you're fine with random loot, what is the difference?

No, I'd say there's still more difference than that. I mean in theory you can play the exact same way, but you could build the exact same way in D2 as well. Looking at other players builds and playing multiplayer with other people playing the same class as me I see a lot of differences in skill selection. I actually probably see more diversity in skills than I saw in D2 where things got very cookie cutter by necessity.

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

In the new system your character is defined by loot (that's the only difference between Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2). So you are pretty much required to find or AH loot to progress deeper into the game. Not sure how that is any different. If you're fine with random loot, what is the difference?

No, I'd say there's still more difference than that. I mean in theory you can play the exact same way, but you could build the exact same way in D2 as well. Looking at other players builds and playing multiplayer with other people playing the same class as me I see a lot of differences in skill selection. I actually probably see more diversity in skills than I saw in D2 where things got very cookie cutter by necessity.

I currently have one character in Nightmare, althought I have 2 more quickly reaching the same point, a level 35 Monk. I played this character through Normal exclusively as a duo with a buddy of mine from start to finish, now as I solo through Nightmare I am sorely dissapointed by the items that are dropping. Yes Yes I know "Use the AH!" but quite honestly I do not want to use items that other players have found I want to use the cool loot that I find, isnt that the point of a loot based game like Diablo, Torchlight, Titans Quest etc. I am not looking for the "Uber Sword of Instant Death" with every monster killed but I have yet to swap a single piece of equipment in nearly 5 levels. Diablo 2 Normal to Nightmare progression had a very marked demarcation between items Im just not seeing here. I found at least a dozen blue drops last night with stats less than +8 on them. The Skeleton King dropped two really common type blues and NO yellows for me when I killed him, I know the yellows are only guaranteed on first kill but I thought that was first kill EACH difficulty tier.

Now I am wondering if playing in a group increased the level of loot or simply increased the number of mobs/champion packs we encountered to the point that law of averages dictate we had a better oppurtunity to find better gear drops or possibly I am just having some bad luck in NM at the moment.

Once again I know I can use the AH to upgrade but Im not having an overly difficult time so far, (still only one death on this character to a certain ice based sub-boss in Act IV normal) and quite honestly If everyone is simply going to use the AH then really the "chasing that next great gear drop" aspect of the game has devolved into simply amassing huge amounts of in game gold to buy what you want. Has Blizzard outright stated that the addition of the auction house has altered how they designed the game in terms of loot tables and drop percentages?

Basically, anything in-game that was too effective for its "own good"? Is no longer... And anything that let you do something awesome that wasn't intended, like, say, wielding a pair of two-handed weapons? Gone.

What's funny-strange is that there are all these skills I never gave one second of thought to using that were apparently way more effective than intended. Now I'll never know.

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

In the new system your character is defined by loot (that's the only difference between Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2). So you are pretty much required to find or AH loot to progress deeper into the game. Not sure how that is any different. If you're fine with random loot, what is the difference?

I play mostly solo, so even if every other person playing a barbarian picked the same skill load out with the exact same runes (which I think would be unlikely), it has no impact on me. Having to hunt down rune upgrades just to use the versions of the skills I want to use does have an impact on me. Maybe I'm not making the distinction any clearer, but it's very different from my point of view.

In remembering Darkstone (1999), I dug up a FAQ on its quest system. I think it's the one concept from Darkstone I wish Blizzard had drawn some inspiration from:

Quote

Q: How do the quests work [in Darkstone]?

A: Quests are randomly generated from a selection of 22 main quests and 20 secondary quests. Since each game will contain eight main quests across 32 levels, Darkstone has a long existence indeed.

Certainly the combat and looting's the thing, but if each time you went through the campaign, you at least had a different mix of secondary quests (maybe it wouldn't make sense for the storyline quests in D3 to randomize), I think it would've made repeated run throughs feel a bit fresher.

There's a hint at that in D3 in terms of, say, the Soul Jar event not always being present in the cemetery dungeons (that's apparently randomized).

But, heck. It's the Fastest Selling PC Game in the History of the Universe, right? Hell if it needed to take any pointers from Darkstone. I just think it's a little thing that might've made me more inclined to run through the same areas repeatedly.

That reminds me of the skill system for Sacred. The skill upgrades came via drops. I liked Sacred, but I didn't care for the random aspect of learning and developing skills. It's more intuitive to me that skills are learned and improved with gained experience, rather than through random drops. I didn't like that system when EQ2 first launched either. It's too random for me. Random loot drops for gear? That's cool. But not for something as essential as skills or spells.

I could already imagine having to buy rune upgrades on the AH. That's just not for me.

In the new system your character is defined by loot (that's the only difference between Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2). So you are pretty much required to find or AH loot to progress deeper into the game. Not sure how that is any different. If you're fine with random loot, what is the difference?

I play mostly solo, so even if every other person playing a barbarian picked the same skill load out with the exact same runes (which I think would be unlikely), it has no impact on me. Having to hunt down rune upgrades just to use the versions of the skills I want to use does have an impact on me. Maybe I'm not making the distinction any clearer, but it's very different from my point of view.

Rogue, you're still missing the distinction. Whether solo or grouped makes no difference, in D3 every runeskill comes to you as a fixed version at the level Blizzard chose to gave it to you, which to a player trying a class for the first time, particularly solo, might as well just be random. I can honestly see no rhyme or reason why they gave out certain runeskills earlier than others. Either way, you never make a commitment or sacrifice for anything, and in return, you are never rewarded by a particular commitment or sacrifice. Easy example: in D2, I might want to make a trapper build based on being able to lay a bunch of traps, my whole playstyle is predicated on being able to lay down 3+ traps and then shooting from one of the apexes. To be able to do that, I had to invest a certain number of points (and thus not be able to use them on something else, like a powerful finishing move). In D3, I am stuck forever with the same version of the runeskill. They essentially cut out the ability to be creative, to make interesting choices that truly create a differentiation or truly reflect a personal playstyle. That's where the cookie cutter syndrome comes in. What other people choose or don't may not affect you, but you've effectively lost the ability to make more specific choices that might have suited you even better.

Now tying it to random rune drops may seem to be a hindrance, but that's an easy thing to balance. Look at the way gems work. If the first 2 quality levels fell as freely as they do now, and you add the ability to cube them to the next higher (I'd probably eliminate the ability to cube to the highest level), you will pretty much always have access to any skill you want at roughly the same power level as you have in the current game (they said the power level was fixed around the original 3-4 level IIRC). Again, the new system only took things away; everything you now have in release you essentially had in the original system, and in fact, even sooner since all base skills were given at 30.

I currently have one character in Nightmare, althought I have 2 more quickly reaching the same point, a level 35 Monk. I played this character through Normal exclusively as a duo with a buddy of mine from start to finish, now as I solo through Nightmare I am sorely dissapointed by the items that are dropping. Yes Yes I know "Use the AH!" but quite honestly I do not want to use items that other players have found I want to use the cool loot that I find, isnt that the point of a loot based game like Diablo, Torchlight, Titans Quest etc. I am not looking for the "Uber Sword of Instant Death" with every monster killed but I have yet to swap a single piece of equipment in nearly 5 levels. Diablo 2 Normal to Nightmare progression had a very marked demarcation between items Im just not seeing here. I found at least a dozen blue drops last night with stats less than +8 on them. The Skeleton King dropped two really common type blues and NO yellows for me when I killed him, I know the yellows are only guaranteed on first kill but I thought that was first kill EACH difficulty tier.

Now I am wondering if playing in a group increased the level of loot or simply increased the number of mobs/champion packs we encountered to the point that law of averages dictate we had a better oppurtunity to find better gear drops or possibly I am just having some bad luck in NM at the moment.

Once again I know I can use the AH to upgrade but Im not having an overly difficult time so far, (still only one death on this character to a certain ice based sub-boss in Act IV normal) and quite honestly If everyone is simply going to use the AH then really the "chasing that next great gear drop" aspect of the game has devolved into simply amassing huge amounts of in game gold to buy what you want. Has Blizzard outright stated that the addition of the auction house has altered how they designed the game in terms of loot tables and drop percentages?

I feel similarly. The AH is both awesome and bad at the same time. Sure I can get awesome gear in a cost effective manner but the fun of Diablo is getting your own drops and the odds of me getting better drops just becomes very unlikely if I'm twinked via AH.

I know some people are just going to say "then don't use the AH". But Blizzard designed the game with the AH. Why should I have to make up my own game rules? I don't know if there's any easy solution here.

Either way, you never make a commitment or sacrifice for anything, and in return, you are never rewarded by a particular commitment or sacrifice. Easy example: in D2, I might want to make a trapper build based on being able to lay a bunch of traps, my whole playstyle is predicated on being able to lay down 3+ traps and then shooting from one of the apexes. To be able to do that, I had to invest a certain number of points (and thus not be able to use them on something else, like a powerful finishing move). In D3, I am stuck forever with the same version of the runeskill. They essentially cut out the ability to be creative, to make interesting choices that truly create a differentiation or truly reflect a personal playstyle. That's where the cookie cutter syndrome comes in. What other people choose or don't may not affect you, but you've effectively lost the ability to make more specific choices that might have suited you even better.

There are plenty of sacrifices and choices to be made; they just aren't permanent. With only six skill slots and one rune per skill, each skill or rune you choose means you have to sacrifice all the others, especially if you don't use elective mode. If I want to be able to make enemies flee if I get surrounded, I have to make myself more susceptible to attack by not having zombie dogs to draw enemies' attacks. If I choose to slow enemies with Poison Darts, I have to sacrifice firing three at once for more damage. There are tons of possible combinations and ways to tailor your skill choices to particular playstyles, and I'd be surprised if people didn't come up with lots of creative builds.

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

I've got one normal barbarian (Dave) and one in HC (Fangancandy) but I haven't finished normal with either. I'm guessing you don't have a ton of int, which is where you get resists from. Maybe some resist gear would help?

Went into a public match today and the only one there was a character with Chinese characters for a name. I immediately pictured getting mugged like in that video above and got the hell out

That reminds me, I'd meant to share a pic from my Nightmare team the other day where one guy was typing in Chinese:*I had to crop it tightly to avoid late campaign story spoilers.

Had a pretty fun mostly duo nightmare with a mid 30s Barbarian last night. We spent an awful amount of time dying, but I think I gradually developed some strategies (beyond just "Run Awaaaaay!"). For example, I got a clue and realized the best way I could be helpful sometimes was wading past the grunts (which the Barb was tied up with) and taking down Summoners as quickly as possible. A Witch Doctor joined us, and it was pretty cool to watch our three classes attempting to work together. And given the crazy amounts of HP some enemies have in Nightmare, the Marked for Death skill (to make them take more damage) proved helpful though it didn't always improve my survivability per se.

I guess we gotta work on our poison resistances cause that was often killing us faster than we realized. You try to step around the pools, and plant clusters or whatever, but sometimes they're all but filling up the screen.

Enjoying the game very much. Got to the end of Act I last night. Awarded with an amazing cinematic (Blizzard really should make a feature length CGI movie at some point). Great stuff! I've found a few gold items with my Monk on Normal mode and I'm beginning to see the difficulty ramp up (No Hardcore for me right now, thanks). I've not died.. yet! Looking forward to putting more time into it this Memorial Day weekend. I'll say it again--This one has the good olde Blizzard gameplay magic! It just keeps you playing.

As it stands, nothing works well for DH past act 1 Inferno. Wizards have it just as rough. Mean while i witnessed a barb solo 3 packs of elites on Inferno on the same act i’m struggling to complete the first quest.

You should go tell the barb players that. Consensus is they’re the worst class in the game.[Sarcasm, I think?-bj]

From past Diablo games, perhaps the roughest thing on tougher difficulty modes is all the immunities you run into. Even on Nightmare, I ran into bosses sometimes that seemed immune virtually to everything my Demon Hunter could shoot, throw, toss, etc. Eventually through experimentation I'd find something that worked.

I'm sure everyone is complaining on the forums right now that "their" class is useless in Inferno or Hell mode, and "that" class is kicking ass. It seems kind of a rush to judgement, not knowing what types of equipment "that" class is using.

I was playing with a mid 30s Barb last night in Nightmare, and he expressed a lot of frustration with his current build. I think he just needed better resistances perhaps, but I've only gotten to L10 with my own Barb at this point, so I abstain from giving Barbarian players any advice just yet.

I found myself using Caltrops a lot in Nightmare yesterday. DH's also have a Passive that reduces dmg by 25% from targets snared in Caltrops or other snare-y things, and that seemed to reduce our dying a bit. Although Teleporting boss groups tend to just act like Caltrops isn't even there.

Just got this game today, although my laptop isn't cut out for it (doesn't have a good video card) I have found ways around it to get it to play. Having a good time so far. Only issue I keep running into is my fps keeps bombing which leaves the baddies warping around. Kind of gets on my nerves a little bit. Going to see if I can find a fix for this, other then that, I'm enjoying myself. I also have some guest passes if anyone wants to use one.

This idea that x class is no good in Inferno - isn't the point that you don't just cruise through from difficulty to difficulty? Doesn't Blizzard expect that you farm previous difficulties until you're geared for the next? Maybe these people are just expecting they can walk into Inferno just because they completed Hell.

I was playing with a mid 30s Barb last night in Nightmare, and he expressed a lot of frustration with his current build. I think he just needed better resistances perhaps, but I've only gotten to L10 with my own Barb at this point, so I abstain from giving Barbarian players any advice just yet.

I just got the rune that heals you when you critically hit with whirlwind. So far it's great for taking on bosses that are surrounded by lots of enemies.

Once in a while though, it seems some boss will will just kill me in a second or two. I wish Diablo had a system like League of Legends that gives a death recap and shows what type of damage killed you because it can be hard to tell sometimes when you get 1 shotted or die too fast.

Went into a public match today and the only one there was a character with Chinese characters for a name. I immediately pictured getting mugged like in that video above and got the hell out

I thought it's not safe to go into public matches? I know Blizzard is denying it, but I've seen several posts from people on various forums that they got hacked despite having an authenticator.

Things are still shaking out, but according to Blizz, in every case they've investigated so far, the account's been compromised before an authenticator was attached, and it's been the old-fashioned way (someone figuring out a player's password, or say, someone in a dorm who puts his password on a Post-It Note on his computer etc.) People are denying that. So we'll see.

Also, you've presumably got to set the authenticator to be required EVERY time you log in for full protection. Otherwise, someone who figured out your password will be able to log in on those occasions that it doesn't ask for the authenticator # (i.e., if you've set it to NOT require the authenticator number every time you log in). It's a pain.

I'm not sure, but I think they've been trying to say that in some cases, someone's account was compromised (perhaps without them knowing) just before they added the authenticator. And because the authenticator then wasn't set to be required EVERY login, the "compromiser" then snuck in on an attempt when it didn't ask for the authenticator #. Sneaky devils.

I still think there has to be a better way to do this eventually -- biometrics (finger print signatures, including "heat" so you can't cut someone's finger off and put it on the scanner ), retina scan, voice recognition, your palm print, etc. But whether any of that can ever be done affordably, I dunno.

Also, you've presumably got to set the authenticator to be required EVERY time you log in for full protection. Otherwise, someone who figured out your password will be able to log in on those occasions that it doesn't ask for the authenticator # (i.e., if you've set it to NOT require the authenticator number every time you log in). It's a pain.

This is the one thing I don't understand. Won't it ask you to authenticate if you log in from a different IP address? Then again, someone capable of stealing your password can probably spoof your IP too.

Battle.net®/Diablo III Security ConcernsOver the past couple of days, players have expressed concerns over the possibility of Battle.net® account compromises. First and foremost, we want to make it clear that the Battle.net and Diablo III servers have not been compromised. In addition, the number of Diablo III players who've contacted customer service to report a potential compromise of their personal account has been extremely small.

In all of the individual Diablo III-related compromise cases we've investigated, none have occurred after a physical Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app was attached to the player's account, and we have yet to find any situation where a Diablo III player's account was accessed outside of "traditional" compromise methods (i.e. someone logging using an account's login email and password).

To that end, we've also seen discussions regarding the possibility of account compromises occurring in ways that didn’t involve these "traditional" methods -- for example, by "session spoofing" a player’s identity after he or she joins a public game. Regarding this specific example, we've looked into the issue and found no evidence to indicate compromises are occurring in this fashion, and we've determined the methods being suggested to do so are technically impossible. However, you have our assurance that we’ll continue to investigate reports such as these and keep you informed of important updates.

I should've mentioned the other cases seem to be from folks clicking on links (malware or other awful tomfoolery usually lies within) in phony e-mails trying to look like Blizzard e-mails etc. Blizz has a whole section stuff like that:http://us.battle.net/en/security/theft